


Passing the Time

by shadowsfan



Category: The Tunnel (TV)
Genre: Adultery, F/M, Older Man/Younger Woman, Unresolved Sexual Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-03
Updated: 2016-03-03
Packaged: 2018-05-24 12:44:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 749
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6154129
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shadowsfan/pseuds/shadowsfan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Karl and Elise are partners at work but could there be something more?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Passing the Time

**Author's Note:**

> This was written as a gift for a friend who ships these two. You know who you are! Inspired by the promos for the new season of The Tunnel with Stephen Dillane and Clemence Poesy

Elise leaned back against the passenger seat of the Vauxhall, trying to make herself a bit more comfortable.  They’d been on surveillance duty, watching the alley behind the squat tenement building for hours, waiting for their person of interest to show.  They might have left this task to the lower ranking members of the team, but Karl had insisted.  Probably because he wanted some time away from changing the twins’ dirty nappies as much as he wanted to find their suspect, she supposed.  He’d said it before, the house was Laura’s domain but the car was his to do with as he pleased.  It was his refuge and he used it as such from time to time when he needed a respite from his chaotic household.  At least he’d agreed to take out a police loaner on this assignment so she didn’t have to endure the smell of wet dog that usually permeated his own vehicle.

 

Elise stared into the darkness, a lone streetlamp illuminating the rain slickened pavement, only half listening as Karl prattled on about a similar stake out he’d been on as an eager young sergeant.  It was easy enough to tune him out, especially since English wasn’t her first language.  She wasn’t interested in the story, but Karl liked to talk and she liked listening to Karl’s voice.  It soothed her ─ like hot tea with honey and lemon on a sore throat.   He knew she wasn’t really listening, and she knew that he knew.  He wasn’t offended by her indifference and he would eventually coax her into telling a story of her own.  Having been through so much together in the last year, their relationship was a comfortable one.  

 

Elise watched Karl’s hands as he gestured.  Karl always gestured when he talked.  He had such beautiful hands for a policeman, and she wondered, not for the first time, how his long fingers would feel, working the knots from her stiff shoulders.  She supposed they would feel delicious.  He must know the way a woman wanted to be touched, given his reputation.  Women tended to throw themselves at Karl like lemmings off a cliff, and most of the time Karl hadn’t bothered to get out of the way.  Infidelity was a flaw in his character that he’d struggled to overcome.  His need to cheat ─ to risk losing everything ─ was emotional rather than sexual.  She understood that now, though she’d never experienced a strong emotional connection herself.   Sex for her was about satisfying a physical need, though she’d always been curious about how it would be to feel a real emotional connection with her partner.  Sex with Gael, her French lover, was fantastic and yet failed to engage her interest beyond the carnal.  Karl was the one man for whom she’d developed a bond so intense that she finally realized that it must be affection.  Karl was the only man who made her smile, despite the fact that she rarely understood his jokes.  Karl was patient with her, never abandoning her when others would have dismissed her for being uncaring and rude.  Would sex with Karl, the only man who truly  _ got _ her, be exquisite or yet another disappointment?  She liked to imagine that she would find what she was searching for in his arms ─ but it was only just imagination.

  
Elise glanced over to the driver’s seat where Karl was still talking.  She shifted in her seat, muscles protesting their lengthy confinement in such a cramped space.  With a sigh she turned and laid her head against Karl’s shoulder, burying her nose against his wool sweater.  The faint smell of wet dog made her stifle a laugh as she closed her eyes for a moment and truly relaxed.  Karl stopped talking abruptly.  She knew that would shut him up.  She supposed he was tempted too, although she was certain that he was telling himself how wrong it was to be attracted to a much younger woman and his partner at that.  Partners and friends, they would both secretly wonder what it would be like to be lovers.  But neither would dare to cross that invisible line.  To do so would mean destroying the relationship that they had so carefully constructed with their blood, sweat and tears.  Neither would risk it, because neither could bear the loss of the other, though the promise of more might capture their thoughts from time to time.  For now they would sit quietly, content to watch and wait in comfortable silence.


End file.
